I think this is my favourite non-digitally animated Disney film. I love the gold-hearted Quasimodo, but best of this Disney musical I like the songs! The "Hellfire" song is brutal! ^.^
Fans of the beloved Victor Hugo novel may find this "Disneyfied" interpretation too disorienting. On its own, however, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is one of Disney's finest (and most grossly underrated) productions. Although marketed as a kids' film, this movie touches on surprisingly mature and complex concepts--the issues of genocide, hypocrisy, lust, and religiousness. The characters are all fully-realized, from the kindly if deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo to the ruthless Judge Claude Frollo (fabulously voiced by the late Tony Jay), and Alan Menken's score is suitably dark and powerful, with Latin chanting to match (it's one of the composer's finest, too). And of course, the animation is amazing. There are plenty of sequences which youngsters may find too scary or confusing, notably one musical number in which a character sings about his lust for the fiery gypsy Esmeralda. Disturbing though such moments are, they actually elevate HUNCHBACK as a centerpiece of dramatic animation. Probably the only drawbacks are the "comic relief" from Quasi's gargoyle pals, which sometimes borders on unnecessary, often disrupting the dark tone, and the climactic battle sometimes verges into implausibility. Still, HUNCHBACK is a very underrated film from Disney, and certainly one of my favorites.
LovedlovedLOVED it!! The music is absolutely fantastic (Hell's fire, The court of miracles, Sanctuary and The bells; what more do you want??) Plus Esmeralda is one of the best female figures disney ever made. You don't want to read the book though, cause everybody gets killed, quasi is deaf, esmeralda dies and phoebus is a dimwit (alright, i guess the book in itself is good, but I like this version better ;). Clopin is perfect, by the way!
One of Disney's all-time best, and among the most adult films they've ever done while still keeping it fairly family-friendly. Brilliant songs and writing... What's not to love?
quite dark for a cartoon - also slams the church with an evil priest; theme: gypsies good, those who believe in God bad - granted there were arguably many priests in those days who were power hungry manipulators and surely not true representatives of God, but to make them overtly evil while making the gypsies who were far from being historic saints look pure is a little too much
awesome movie. I liked the defeation of frollo,and I thought the scene near the end of the festival was sad,but this movie taught an important lesson.
it did have a lot of dark tones to it,like frollo about to kill quasimodo with a dagger and him mentioning hell and how esmerelda will burn in hell's dark fires if she doesn't become his.
and many red hooded hellish creatures appear,this is when disney could get away with this kind've dark stuff. oh they could get away with a lot in the 80's and 90's.
Even though the writers played fast and loose with the source material, I still enjoyed this movie. It's a beautiful thing to watch, the colours are breath taking. Tom Hulse is incredible.
I really like this movie, I used to be very scared of it as a kid, it was that bad guy i mean he just gave me nightmares. But its a really good movie and interesting storyline, I think its very different from what Disney was producing at that time.
A top-notch disney film that often goes over looked for its dark tone and abnormally hideous (not really) main character. I think it's a brillant film with an explosive soundtrack especially Clopin the uber-tenor (I'm so jealous) and his super opening number ?The Bells of Notre Dame?, my only gripe is the uselessness of the musical number from the gargoyles and Hugo's brief annoying comments.
They butchered the book, sure, but it's still a cute movie. It's the kind of story that shouldn't ever, EVER be filmed by Disney or Capra though - too passionate.
They butchered the book, sure, but it's still a cute movie. It's the kind of story that shouldn't ever, EVER be filmed by Disney or Capra though - too passionate.
Considering 1996 movie the animation will surprise you. The team really had put a lot of efforts to describe an old novel in a very creative way. The music create some magical effects in movie. Even though it's not my genre, I still like the music.
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